I have always felt that it was important that
everyone who was a worker join a labor organization.
Eleanor Roosevelt spoke these words to striking workers
in 1941, one of many talks to union audiences as First Lady of the United
States. The AFL printed the full speech in The American Federationist as
seen below. Her clear and unequivocal statement in support of union membership
reflected
her
past
and foreshadowed
her
future.
Eleanor
Roosevelt
was
a champion of workers and she became a key player in defining workers’ rights
as human rights at the United Nations.
ER's address to Local 3 of the International
Brotherhood of Electrical Workers at Leviton
Manufacturing Company strike headquarters, 1941. (5)
Workers Should Join Trade Unions
I have always been interested in organizations for labor.
I have always felt that it was important that everyone who was a worker
join a labor organization, because the ideals of the organized labor
movement are high ideals.
They mean that we are not selfish in our desires, that we stand for
the good of the group as a whole, and that is something which we
in the United States
are learning every day must be the attitude of every citizen.
We must all of us come to look upon our citizenship as a trusteeship,
something that we exercise in the interests of the whole people.
Only if we cooperate in the battle to make this country a real democracy
where the interests of all people are considered, only when each one
of us does this
will genuine democracy be achieved.
We hope to make the great battle which is before us today
a battle of democracy versus a dictatorship.
I could not help thinking as we sang “God Bless America” that you
who have seen hardship for so many weeks in your fight to better conditions
for everyone involved must sometimes think that things are not as they should
be in this country. I am afraid that I agree with you.
I know many parts of the country and there are many that
I would like to see changed, and I hope eventually they will be changed.
But in spite of that I hope that we all feel that the mere fact that
we can meet together and talk about organization for the worker
and democracy in
this country is in itself something for which we ought to be extremely
thankful.
There are many places where there can be no longer any participation
or decision on the part of the people as to what they will or
will not do.
And so, in
spite of everything, we can still sing “God Bless America” and really
feel that we are moving forward slowly, sometimes haltingly, but always in
the hope and in the interest of the people in the whole country.
I just want to say that my education in the labor movement has
come largely through Rose Schneiderman. I happened to join
the Women’s Trade Union
League years ago and she has taught me many things I wouldn’t have known
otherwise.
I worked with Hilda Smith on her programs of workers’ education throughout
the country. I always ask everybody what they are doing in the work project.
I get funny answers. They say that they thought it was a dangerous subject.
I said it doesn’t seem that way to me. We must have education and the
ability of the people to understand the whole problem.
We should have projects to study the employees’ problems and I wish we
had employers’ educational projects, too.
The important thing is to try to learn what conditions
are throughout the country as a whole, and what the people
are
really thinking
and what they
are striving
for.
As I look over the past few years, the thing that gives
me the most hope for the future is the fact that, on
the whole,
people
are standing
together,
people
are working for the good of a group, not just for themselves.
When we learn that I think we are going to find that
we can move forward
faster
and faster.
I wish those of us who are employers would learn that
it is through cooperation that we achieve more – that through stating our problems and asking people
to work with us to solve them that we really get somewhere.
But that requires constant education for all of us,
and I think we ought to bring all we can into really
understanding
the
problems that are before
the
nation as a whole and as they affect our own particular
situation.
We ought to try to solve the problems in our situation
so that we can be more helpful in the solution
of the problems that
face the
nation.
We find ourselves at a serious moment in the history
of the world. We face problems not only as citizens
of the
United
States; we
face them
as part
of the entire world.
The greatest thing we can get out of the present
crisis is to develop the habit of working together
and realizing
that
whatever
happens
is going
to affect
us all.
I want to leave you this morning and express
my gratitude to you for having stood together
to gain
those things,
materially and
spiritually, that will
make life for your group richer and more
productive.
I hope the day will come when all the people
of this country will understand that cooperation
will
bring
us greater
happiness, and
will bring us
in the end a better life for the whole
country and enable us to exert a
greater influence on the world as a whole.
At the United Nations Eleanor Roosevelt's most notable and long lasting work
was through the United Nations. The UN was established in 1945 and ER
was appointed one of the first U.S. delegates by President Truman. The
Human Rights Commission was created in 1946, out of concern for victims
of World War II. Because of her commitment to refugee issues, ER was
chosen to chair the effort to draft a Declaration of Human Rights.
The Commission's mission was to create a document that
might help to prevent another such war and serve as a model for how human
beings and nations should treat each other. The General Assembly adopted
the resulting Declaration on December 10, 1948. For over fifty years,
the Declaration has been a moral beacon in the now universally recognized
struggle for human rights and its principles have been incorporated into
the legal systems of newly emerging nations through out the world. (For
copies of the complete document in over 300 languages see the web page
of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights: www.unhchr.ch.)
(7)
Critical to defining workers’ rights as human rights
is Article 23:
1. Everyone has the right to work, to free choice of
employment, to just and favourable conditions of work and to protection
against unemployment.
2. Everyone, without any discrimination, has the right
to equal pay for equal work.
3. Everyone who works has the right to just and favourable
remuneration ensuring for himself an his family an existence worthy
of human dignity, and supplemented, if necessary, by other means of
social protection.
4. Everyone has the right to form and to join trade unions
for the protection of his interests.
Eleanor Roosevelt had good working relationships, as well
as close personal ties, with union leaders and members. Before she was
officially notified of her membership on the Human Rights Commission,
she received a letter from Matthew Woll, Second Vice-President of the
American Federation of Labor, requesting a meeting to discuss the International
Bill of Rights already submitted to the UN Economic and Social Council
by the AFL (November 27, 1946).
Mr. Woll, from the Photo-engravers Union, and her long-time
friend David Dubinsky, president of the International Ladies’ Garment
Workers’ Union, were AFL consultants to the UN. Point 2 of the
AFL document stated that “Genuine freedom means the right of association
and organization into various—into differing—educational,
religious, economic, political and trade union organizations…” In
January of 1947 ER met with Woll and Dubinsky to discuss the AFL human
rights bill.
See “My
Day,” Friday, January 24, 1947.
During debate on what eventually became Article 23, delegates
questioned the need to single out trade union associations. According
to UN documents, Eleanor Roosevelt explained that:
“The United States delegation considered that
the right to form and join trade unions was an essential element of
freedom. While other associations had long enjoyed recognition, trade
unions had met with much opposition and it was only recently that they
had become an accepted form of association. The struggle was, in fact,
still continuing, and her delegation thought, therefore, that specific
mention should be made of trade unions.” (8)
While these debates were going on, ER used her “My Day” column
to educate the public about the complicated process of developing an
international document, while also showing her support for trade union
rights. The discussion at the UN went on to include issues such as the
union shop and strikes. In the end, “Everyone has the right to
form and to join unions for the protection of his interests,” was
accepted by a unanimous vote.
See “My
Day,” Sunday, October 20, 1947.
To view all footnotes, click here.
For more information on the Universal
Declaration of Human Rights, please visit: www.unhchr.ch
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